Submission Guidelines

Fiction Submissions
We publish compelling stories that capture the reader with intriguing characters and quality writing.

Spinetingler publishes stories that could, within the broadest definitions of genre possible, be categorized as crime, mystery, thriller, suspense or horror. Stories should be 1500-5000 words in length. You may submit a shorter story, but there is no payment for stories under 1500 words.

As of the Fall 2008 Issue, contributors will paid $25 USD for published works via Paypal net 30 after publication. Authors are required to have their Paypal account set up prior to publication of their story and to provide that information to Spinetingler Magazine.

Submission Guidelines

Spinetingler Magazine will not publish stories that may be seen as promoting discrimination against other persons based on gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or race. Violence and profanity are not prohibited but should be used with discretion.

Submissions that do not comply with the submission guidelines may be automatically rejected without being reviewed.

1. Submissions must be made via email, sent to spinetinglermag at gmail dot com

2. Stories must be attached as MS Word documents or RTF attachments, written in Arial or Times, 12 pt text. Do not use hard returns at the end of sentences or lines – hard returns at the end of paragraphs only. At the end of each paragraph use a double return to insert a line between paragraphs. Do not use a standard tab at the beginning of new paragraphs. For section breaks use *** centered on its own line – not sharps or other symbols.

3. Submissions must be accompanied by a bio of the writer that will appear in the magazine if their story is published. The bio should not exceed 100 words in length. You may include an author photo if you choose.

4. Include the release statement with the appropriate information inserted. The release statement is at the bottom of this page. Copy and paste it into the body of the email when you send your submission. You must insert the correct information regarding your submission. Submissions without the release statement will not be considered for publication. All submissions received will be opened and if the release is not in the body of the email, the submission will be discarded.

5. Stories must not have been previously published in print or in an e-zine unless we’ve agreed to consider a reprint.

6. No queries. If your story falls within our content guidelines, send it to us. We will not respond to queries.

7. If you realize after submitting that you have missed including something, resubmit the work in its entirety along with the bio, the release statement and personal information requested.

8. Use a working email address. If replies to your submission cannot be delivered after three attempts, your submission will be removed from consideration and no further attempt to contact you will be made.

9. Writers should expect to receive editing notes on any stories accepted. Spinetingler reserves the right to reject a story if the author refuses to make corrections to typos or discuss editorial feedback. Correcting copy is the responsibility of the author, based on feedback from the editorial team.

10. If we learn that a story submitted to us has been submitted elsewhere and we have not been notified by the writer, the story will be removed from consideration. There are no exceptions to this. Unless a story is officially withdrawn we work on the understanding we have sole option on it.

11. We primarily publish stories between 1500 and 5000 words. Less is often more in storytelling. Works exceeding our maximum length may be rejected without review.

12. Spinetingler pays via Paypal. There are no exceptions to this method of payment. If you submit to us it is the only option for payment for your story. We prefer that writers include their Paypal email address in the body of their email when they submit their work so that we can be certain there will be no delays processing payment upon publication. If the Paypal information is not supplied upon submission, it is the responsibility of the author to provide the information when their story is accepted through a separate email with the author’s name, story title and Paypal information referenced in the subject line (ie: Sandra Ruttan, Write To Kill, blahblahblah@myemailhoster.com) Authors must provide the Paypal account information prior to publication of their story.

I, Insert AUTHOR NAME here, certify that I am the writer/artist of the work being submitted to Spinetingler Magazine. This story, insert STORY NAME here, has not been published previously online or in print and has never been printed in whole or in part on a blog, website or forum or any other medium. I also agree that Spinetingler Magazine may archive work after initial publication. I further agree that Spinetingler may consider my work for print/electronic publication in a best of” anthology at some point. I retain copyright and all rights to my work except First WORLDWIDE Rights. My work may not appear in another publication for 15 months following its release in Spinetingler Magazine without written consent from the editor in order for it to be considered for the anthology. If my work should appear in another publication after that time has elapsed, it will be noted that it first appeared in Spinetingler Magazine, at www.spinetinglermag.com

I understand that if my work does appear elsewhere before the time has elapsed without written consent, my work may be removed from the anthology with no royalties being paid for any copies sold that contained my work.

**Insert information as directed in place of underlined sections.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Multiple Submissions

Spinetingler Magazine will accept two submissions from an author during a submission period. However, it is unlikely we will publish more than one story from an author in an issue.

2. Simultaneous Submissions

No simultaneous submissions can be considered at this time. We are attempting to review material faster in consideration to the writers submitting work.

3. Reprints

We do not reprint work that has appeared elsewhere for payment. Typically, we do not reprint stories that have been published elsewhere. In the event of submitting a reprint, do query us via spinetinglermag@mysterybookspot.com

4. Why Paypal?

Paypal is the simplest, safest method of payment online that’s currently available. In order to keep costs low so that we can invest in publishing fiction we do not use checks or money orders. There are no exceptions to this policy. If Paypal is unsuitable as a payment method for you, please DO NOT submit your story to us.

Award Submission Policy

Spinetingler will not assume responsibility for submitting stories we’ve published for award consideration. Authors who wish to have their stories considered for Derringers or other industry awards should submit their works themselves in accordance with the award guidelines. Spinetingler assumes no responsibility to screen the various awards for legitimacy. Spinetingler will not pay to submit works to any award that has a fee.